Box cas



Feb. 3, 1931. o, GREGG 1,791,058

BOX CAR Filed Feb. 28. 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 M TWW INVENTOR ATTORNEY BOX CAR Filed Feb. 2a, 1928 5 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY 0. T. GREGG Feb. 3, 1931.

BOX CAR Filed Feb. 28, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Feb. 3, 1931. o. T. GREGG 1,791,058

BOX cm Filed Feb. 28, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 ATT RNLY Feb. 3, 1931. O GREGG 1,791,058

' BOX CAR Filed Feb. '28. 1928 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 3, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OTIS T. GREGG, OF HACKENSACK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOB TO THE GREGG COMPANY, LmITED, OF YOBK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK BOX OAR Application flled-l'ebruary' 28, 1828. Serial No. 257,565.

The present invention relates to box cars, and more particularly'to the superstructure of such cars, the object thereof being to provide a car which is both strong and wellbraced and at the same time is flexible so that it can accommodate itself to the irregularities of an uneven track to thereby reduce to a minimum the liability to derailment.

Railway cars are kept upon the track by the downward pressure of their wheels upon the rails. those railroads inthis country, and especially of many of the standard and narrowgauge roads in certain foreign countries, the revenues of,which are insufiicient to provide for proper track maintenance, it is most desirable that the wheel loads of the cars be kept as uniform as possible since disproportioned loads on the different wheels are a major causeof' 2n. derailments.

The car underframe of four-wheel'cars is supported on two axles,.,located towards the ends of thecar, by four identical journals;

Consequently, in passing over an uneven track one end of an axle will rise or fall with respect to its other end with the result that, unless the underframe is flexible and [can twist so as to conform to the irregularities of the track, the four sets of springs associated with the four journals will be compressed to different degrees, and therefore the load transmitted therethrough to two of the four Wheels, at diagonally opposite corners of the car, will be insuflicient to hold these wheels firmly upon the rails. And the same is true of eight-wheel cars, where the underfra-me is supported upon two itrucks each with two 'axles joined more or less flexibly together so that the wheels may yield to track irregulari- 40 ties. In these cars the weight of the car is normally supported only upon a bearin the center of each truck, which bearing re ects the resultant or average height of the four wheels thereof; but, to balance the underv frame upon the trucks, side bearings are pro- Hence, on the uneven tracks of they will have suflicientflexibility to accomat etc vided which normally have a slight clearance and, as each reflects the average height of the two wheels on its side of the truck, it follows that, as in four-wheel cars, the underframe mu st twist with the irregularities in the track if the wheel loads are to be kept substantially uniform. v The slight reduction in the required distortion of the underframeof the eight wheel cars, due to the clearance between the) side bearings, is as a rule more than ofiset by their greater length.

The underframes of cars, bothfourand eight-wheel cars, are easilyand customarily so designed thatwhen riveted up complete modate themselves to une've'ntrack conditions without greatly disproportioning the wheel loads. Little difiiculty therefore is experienced in the case of flat or platform cars, but where cars have a superstructure built upon their underframes, as in hopper cars, gondolas, box cars, etc., the superstructure must also be made flexible as otherwise the under frame will be ke t from yielding, with the resultant unequa loading of the car wheels on an uneven track.

To provide such a flexible superstructure in box cars, m present inventionis directed to a simple an novel roof construction which consists, broadly stated, in a series of transverse roof'plates pivotally joined to the sides, or to one s1de, of the car and so overlapping one another as to both allow a relative movement of the plates and form water-shedding joints. The flexibility or, rather, deformability, of the roof permits the balance of the superstructure, especially the side walls, to be made of the usual strength and well braced as required to resistthe many strains of loads, bumping of carswhen coupling, derailments, by giving to the superstructure as a whole a exibllity which enables it to yield in conformity withfthe desired twistings of the underframe.

Several practical embodiments of the inlo vention are shown, by way of illustration and not of limitation, in the accompanyingdraw- 'ings, in whichthereto; and Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are similar views, on an enlarged scale, of broken portions of the upper part of the car superstructure, showing, in side elevation, the flexible roof as formed in different ways with plates or sheets of various forms.

Referring first to Figs, 1 toil of the drawings',a c d indicate the orn'ers at one end of the car, the forward end for example, and a bf c 4' indicate the corresponding corners at the rear end of the car, The corners at the near and far sides of the car will therefore be indicated by a a, c c and b b,

d (1, respectively.

The car underframe, comprising the side sills 11 11' and the end sills 12 12', is mounted in the usual manner upon forward and reartrucks 13 13 the wheels of which rest upon rails 14 14'.

' The superstructure of the car is framed at its sides and ends by the usual corner stakes l5 and, on each side, by door stakes 16, intermediate stakes 17 and diagonal stakes 18, 19, and eaves angle 20, the corner and side stakes bein fixed as usual at their lower ends to the side sill and at the top to the eaves angle,

and at each end by end stakes 21, fixedto the end sill, and end plate 22 fixed to the to of the end and adjolning corner stakes. his frame is closed by the usual side sheathings 23 and end sheathings 24.

The deformable roof consists, essentially, of a series of transverse metallic plates 25, galvanized steel sheets for instance, which are bent centrally on a curve as shown or at an angle, or may be convexly arched in a continuous curve, so as to be highest at the transverse center of the car to thus enable them to shed water to both sides thereof. These plates overlap one another and are so shaped along their overlapping edges as to provide a loose interlock or oint,,at 26, which serves to keep out the water while allowing to some extent a relative movement of the plates both laterally and lon 'tudinall and each plate is pivotally' attac ed to an secured in lace upon the outwardly inclined flange o the eaves an Ice by a single bolt 28 at one, or

referab y at each, of its two ends. When olted at one and only, the plates will be held in place at their other ends b the interlocks but the sides of the car sho be connected together by the carlines commonly used in connection with corrugated-sheet roofs, whereas, if bolted at each end, the carlines can be omitted. The outward slo e of the flanges of the eaves angles, whic should conform more or less closely to the slope of the roof plates, serves to carry ofi any water which may work through the bolt holes in the plates and hence allows of the direct boltin g of these plates to theeaves angles.

A roof constructed as described functions as follows: It will be understood that on an uneven track the trucks and/ofaxles at the opposite ends of a car will be tilted over first to one side and then to the other and so out of level with each other. Whatever the twistings of the track and tilting of the car trucks, however, such twisting will be reflected, by reason of the deformable character of the roof, in a corresponding twist or flexure of the underframe and the entire superstructure of the car. For example, as here shown, the rail 14 is raised beneath the wheels on the near side of the rear truck 13' thus tilting this truck over and out of level with the horizontal forward truck, with the result that the entire rear end of the car is tilted up and over to its far side, abouttlie rail 14' as an axisa movement which twists the-underframe and the two sides of the car, which may be rigidly braced'as usual by diagonal stakes, with an accompanying deformation of the roof which throu h the pivotal action of its plates is shifted om its normal rectangular tea more or less diamond-shaped form, the ends of the roof plates presenting, at each side of the car, a saw-tooth arrangement. Such a result is entirely impossible with a rigid roof, since the unyielding character of the roof will effectually prevent the flexing of the sides of the car and through them a flexing of the underframe.

It is to be notedthat as the roof plates pivot in the deformation of the roof, their overlapping edges shift not only lengthwise thereof but to some extent either to or from each other as the case maybe. Hence, the jointure between the plates should provide the clearance'necessary for such movement.

Different forms of plates can be joined in various ways to give the clearance, a few examples of which are here illustrated and will now be described.

In Fig. 5,, which may be regarded as showing on an enlarged scale the roof structure shown in the' preceding figures, the roof plates or sections 25, all alike and each pivoted centrally thereof to the eaves angle by a bolt 28, are formed from plain sheets which are shaped along their edges to provide a single downwardly opening corrugation "or trough of small radius at one and of larger radius at the other edge, the large corrugation 26 of one plate loosely covering the smaller corrugation"?! of an adjacent plate so as to leave clearances :v 3 which will permit the lates toshift .somewhat either towards or trom each other. e

As modified in Fig. 6, the roof plates 65, also made from plain sheets, are shaped angularly to provide at one edge a downwardly opening corrugation 66 of rectangular section and at the other edge an upwardly projecting flange 67, and a single special plate or section 65, which will usually be placed at the longitudinal center of the car, is provided with a downwardly opening rectangular corrugation 66 at both of its edges. Here, the plates 65'are-reversely positioned on the opposite sides of the special plate 65, the flanged edge of one plate being covered by one of the corrugations of the plate 65' and its flanged edge in turn covered by the corrugation of the 'next adjoining plate. The clearances w permit the necessa relative movement of thexjoined plates. y the location of the pivot bolts of the lates 65 close to the overlapping corrugate ed e, as shown, this ed e o the plate and with it the underlapping anged ed e of the adjoining plate will be held firmly down upon the eaves angles. y In Fi 7 the roof structure shown in Fig. 5 is mo 'fied merely to the extent that every other plate 75 has a corrugation 76 of the larger radius at both of its edges while the intermediate plates 75' have at eachedge a corrugation 77' of the smaller radius, t e

two structures functioning in substantially the same wa In the roo of Fig. 8 standard corrugated galvanized roof sheets are used for the plates, being so placed that the outer corruation 86 ofone plate overlaps and covers t e adjoining outer corrugation 87 of the next plate. It is to benoted that in the construction here illustrated, which is both extremely simple and cheap, no clearances are provided in the joints. The movement of the plates to and from each other in pivoting is, however, permitted by the upward springing of the overlapping'corrugation under-the wedge action of the sloping sidesthereby.

of the. underlapping corrugation. The springiness of the overlapping upper corrugation can be increased or diminished by shifting the pivot bolt, here shown as located at the bottom of the central corrugation of each plate, away from .or towards this edge of the plate, hilt the firmness with which both of the joined plates are held upon the. eaves angles will be inversely afiected The relative desirability of the greater flexibility or of the greater firmness in the roof will depend largely upon the conditions of the track on whic the car is to be used. Joint clearances, if desired, can be obtained by cutting back the edge of the underlapping corrugation and reshaping it to a somewhat smaller radius.

In the modification shown in Fig. 9, the roof plates 95 95 are also more or less standard corrugated sheets but the alternate plates 95' are here turned bottom side up, the arrangement being such that the downwardly projecting outer half 96 of the marginal corrugations of a plate 95 will on each side thereof overla the reversed outer half 97 of the margina corrugation of the adjoining plate 95'.

As further modified in Fig. 10, the car roof combines a series of the corrugated plates 95' with an alternating series'of plates 75, the squared or curved marginal corrugations of the latter plates overlapping on'each of their-sides the upwardly pro ecting outer half of a marginal corrugation of a plate 95 and providing clearances a: y for the relative movement of the overlapped portions.

It will of course be understood that the roof structure may be still further modified in its several details, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the principle or sacrificing the advantages of the invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a box car, the combination, with an uniierframe and framed ends and sides, of a deformable roof com rising ,a. series of transverse plates sloping from the center outwardly and downwardly and extendin out over and past the side of the car, the sai plates being upset and overlapped throughout at their ad oining edges in order to form loose water-shedding jomts and each plate being pivotally attached at each end to the side of the car by a single bolt.

2. In a box car, the combination, with an being ups'et'and overlapped t roughout in manner to form a loose watershedding joint. 3. In abox car, a deformable roof comprismg a series of relatively narrowtransverse roof plates sloping from the center outwardly and downwardly and extending over and beyond the side walls of the car and each pivotally attached to each side wall, the said plates having their adjacent edges upset and overlapped throughout to form loose water sheddin joints and constituting the sole connection etween the top-of the'side walls in termediatethe ends of the car.

4. A box car comprising an underframe framed ends and sides including stakes. an

a deformable roof, each side of the car having attached to the upper ends of its stakes an eaves angle with outwardly inclined top flange and the deformable roof comprising a series of transverse corrugated sheets arranged with the marginal corrugation of one sheet overlapping the marginal corrugation of an adjoining sheet in manner to form a loose water-shedding joint and each sheet pivotally attached at each end directly to the flange of an eaves angle by a single bolt and constituting the only top connection between the sides of the car intermediate its ends.

OTIS ,T. GREGG. 

